Action Learning Leadership Project Guidelines 2013 Cohort A national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation administered by the Center for Creative Leadership and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing.
Action Learning Leadership Project Guidelines Each fellow must implement an organizational, regional, or nationally-focused leadership project as partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Executive Nurse Fellows program. The purpose of this activity is to allow fellows an avenue for applying new and revisited leadership skills presented in the various components of the program s curriculum to a health or health system issue of significance. While the project is a self-directed initiative by the fellows and their project teams, on-going support will be provided by an Action Learning (AL) coach and a senior-level team sponsor. This document: 1. Identifies criteria for selecting an appropriate project 2. Provides a list of due dates for required reports or products (deliverables) 3. Describes the action learning process that should be used 4. Explains the role of the AL coach and team sponsor 5. Provides specific guidelines for each required report 6. Provides examples of goal statements and potential learning questions Executive Nurse Fellows Leadership Project deliverables: During the year, project teams must complete a team charter, impact statement, and two (2) written project reports. The project reports include a mid-year progress report and a final project report. More detail on the expected content of each report is provided later in this document. With permission, final project reports will be posted on the ENF and/or RWJF website. Below is a list of due dates related to your project work. NOTE: Written reports should be sent to your team coach, your team sponsor and should be posted to the ENF community website (http://my.executivenursefellows.org/ on the Projects tab). DELIVERABLES DUE DATES Fellows form teams and meet for the first time Session 2 Team Charter By March 15, 2014 Oral progress update #1 At Session 3 Impact Statement and Logic Model By September 4, 2014 Oral progress update #2 At Session 4 Written Progress Report By Session 4 Final Written Project Report By Session 5 Team Project Final Presentation Delivered At Session 5 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved. 1
Criteria for selecting an appropriate leadership project: Focuses on either a health systems concern or a significant health or nursing issue that is relevant to each fellow s home organization Is within the team s sphere of responsibility and does not compromise similar efforts at the organizational, regional, or national level Provides an opportunity for each fellow to build or strengthen at least one personal leadership skill Requires outreach to other health leaders or partners Requires leadership to be visible and evident Focuses on a problem or challenge that is complex in nature without one obvious solution Has support from each fellow s organization and from the team s sponsor Will likely progress at a rate which will allow the fellows time to build skills and acquire new knowledge Will be completed even if the implementation and follow up must continue past the time of the program RWJF Advocacy Guidelines As a private foundation, RWJF is prohibited from using its resources for lobbying. What are the prohibitions? Direct communication with a legislator about pending or potential legislation Calls to action on pending or potential legislation Endorsing candidates Making campaign contributions Linking to candidate websites Inviting candidates to speak at RWJF-sponsored functions What is not lobbying? Discussing broad social issues without reference to specific legislation Communicating about nonlegislative policies, such as regulations Developing and distributing to anyone in-depth nonpartisan analysis and research materials Urging enforcement of existing laws or regulations If you select an advocacy or policy-change related project, you might first consult with Andi Williams at the ENF National Program Office (NPO) to be certain you are operating within the parameters of the foundation s restrictions for these types of projects. Please email Andi at williamsa@ccl.org or call her at 336-286-4414. Resources: Marquardt, M. (1999). Action learning in action. San Francisco: Barrett-Koehler. Presidential Management Fellows Action Learning Guide, June 2004: http://www.pmi.opm.gov/documents/altguide.pdf 2 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved.
Action learning approach: Projects should be implemented using an action learning approach. In action learning, leaders try to deeply understand a real problem, take wise actions, and reflect on what they ve learned. It is done in a group so leaders can learn from one another, engage in public learning, span boundaries, and collaborate. It is most appropriate when the problem to solve and the means to solve it are ambiguous and require wise judgment, rather than when the problem is clear and only requires careful application of technical solutions. Action learning teams, unlike more typical project committees, are: Committed to questioning and reflecting. Before you decide what actions to take, you ask many questions to try to discover the true problem and what actions have the greatest likelihood of being most helpful in the long run. Committed to action. Action learning requires that we take actions and learn from them, rather than stopping after making recommendations for others! Committed to learning as well as results. Group members focus on what they are learning and how their learning can benefit each group member and the organization as a whole and The learning is as important as the action (Marquardt, 1999). Executive Nurse Fellows ***It might be helpful to keep a personal leadership project notebook or journal about what you are learning and thinking and doing, throughout the program. This is not required but is recommended. Committed to supporting and challenging their teammates. Team members are supportive of one another but also challenge one another s thinking. Action learning ideally moves in cycles of reflection, action, and reflection. Team members ask each other questions to identify what has been learned and what actions should be taken next. Making time to go through at least two cycles of reflection and learning is expected during the ENF program. 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved. 3
Role of the Action Learning Leadership (AL) Coach Each team or individual will be assigned an action learning coach. AL Coaches will: Help you understand the action learning process Help you reflect and ask questions to arrive at a problem worth solving and a list of actions to take Provide your team with resources, tools or ideas for working together more effectively Help you create a method for effectively applying new knowledge or skills to your real life challenge Give feedback on the written reports Support team sponsors Coaches will meet with their teams during Sessions 2, 3, and 4, and at three additional mutually agreed upon times between program sessions. Teams will present the results of their project at the beginning of Session 5. Coaches will be present at Session 5. Coaches will also be available by telephone and email throughout the action learning process. It is the fellows role to convene and lead team meetings, including securing meeting space, food, and any other resources. Travel to meetings is paid by Action Learning funds in individual contracts. Coach travel for prescribed AL meetings is covered by the NPO. Additional coach travel would be covered by Fellow AL funds. The coaches do not serve the role of group facilitator or project content expert. Prescribed AL Team Meetings: Meeting #1 During Session 2 Meeting #2 Between Sessions 2 & 3 Meeting #3 Between Sessions 2 & 3 Meeting #4 During Session 3 Meeting #5 Between Sessions 3 & 4 Meeting #6 During Session 4 Meeting #7 Between Sessions 4 & 5 Role of the AL team sponsor Each action learning team will be responsible for identifying and recruiting an appropriate senior leader to serve as their team s sponsor. The team must notify the NPO of their team sponsor before Session 3 so that the NPO can contract with that sponsor and arrange their attendance at the AL team meeting during Session 3, should this be desired by the team. A separate document regarding the role, expectations, and compensation for the team sponsors 4 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved.
is available on the ENF website. Below is a quick summary of the role of the AL team sponsor: Provides expertise, suggestions, and endorses the selected team project Demonstrates public commitment to the team goals and actions where necessary and appropriate Challenges team to be accountable for movement on meeting objectives, taking action and for building networks Serves as liaison to other key stakeholders; including access to other leaders or resources Provides big picture, systemic view of the problem at hand; encouraging fellows to think differently about the problem if necessary Acts as a sounding board, motivator and cheerleader for the team Recognizes and communicates accomplishments of the team to the team and relevant stakeholders of the team Executive Nurse Fellows The NPO will pay for the team sponsors to attend the AL team meeting during Session 3 and to attend the results presentation during Session 5. Please note that team sponsors are not expected to be present at every team meeting nor are they expected to be either the team leader or a working team member. Their specific role should be negotiated with the members of your team to assure the experience is beneficial and positive for all involved. If your team needs more than 5 days of the sponsor s time, the team will need to pay for that time out of your own action learning funds. Role of AL team members Share personal learning styles and personal goals with teammates, as comfortable Schedule and convene team meetings including those that include either the AL team coach and/or the AL team sponsor Develop a plan for how team meetings will be facilitated and how learning will occur Negotiate expectations and roles with both the AL team coach and the AL team sponsor Provide both the AL team coach and the AL team sponsor with drafts of written reports and updates by required due dates Provide feedback to ENF program staff regarding the AL process at 6 months to assure team needs are being met Meet program deadlines for project deliverables 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved. 5
Team Charter One of the most basic but often overlooked elements necessary for team success is a team charter. A team charter can bring much needed direction and clarity to a team, before it begins task deliberations. Team charters can help teams save time, avoid unnecessary diversion or conflict, reduce ambiguity, and aid productivity. Take some time with your team members to discuss how you will function as a team and what you expect to achieve through your work together. The form below will help guide your discussion. Each team charter should be posted to the ENF community website (http://my.executivenursefellows.org/ on the Projects tab). Ground Rules Ground rules, or group norms, address expected behaviors. The ground rules act as a code of conduct for team members and provide a basic structure for conducting effective team work. What norms will your group adopt around the following areas? Attendance: What are your expectations around attendance at meetings? What are acceptable reasons to miss a meeting? What will be done when a member does not participate? Preparation: What is expected with regards to meeting preparation and completion of assignments? Participation: What are the expectations about being honest and open in sharing beliefs? About listening to diverse opinions? About contributing to the work of the group? Decision Making: How will decisions be made consensus or majority rule? Conflict: How will you address conflict or differences of opinion? 6 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved.
Violations: How will your group deal with violations of the agreed upon rules? Learning: What do we intend to learn from our work together? How will we assure that learning is balanced with our desire for action? Executive Nurse Fellows Roles How will you divide up your tasks? How frequently and where will you meet? How will you manage your meeting time? Who will manage your meeting time? How will you communicate between meetings? How will you involve your coach? NAMES & SIGNATURES OF TEAM MEMBERS: Your signature represents your commitment to your team s ground rules and roles. 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved. 7
Impact Statement & Logic Model Each team of fellows should post a copy of their impact statement and logic model to the ENF community website (http://my.executivenursefellows.org/ on the Projects tab) for their team, and submit a copy to their AL coach and to their team sponsor by the due date. The impact statement should be written in text form and should not exceed more than 4 pages. If necessary, supporting materials may be included in an appendix attached to the end of the document. The impact statement should include the following sections: Project Title Give your project a title Introduction/Background - This section should include: Brief description of the health care problem or organizational issue being addressed (size, scope, and underlying causes) Description of the project setting, the relevant system history and the benefits of completing this initiative to your organization, the health and/or health care system, community or society in general. This section should answer the questions so what? and why is this a problem? Impact statement: Specific vision or outcomes for improved health or organizational change related to this project Project Description and Objectives - This section should include a brief description of the project including the following items: Problem statement specific aspect of the issue the project will focus on List of specific, measurable objectives List of partners (or potential partners, if the project is a new initiative) Description of the system(s) level that your project will focus on: organizational, local, state or national Leadership Development Opportunities - The first paragraph(s) of this section should include a description of why this project is an appropriate choice for fulfilling this requirement of the program. Convince us that this project requires effective leadership to be successfully implemented: will you encounter significant barriers or obstacles? Will you face controversy or uncharted waters? What about this project makes it a good leadership challenge? Following the above description, tell us about the particular one or two leadership skills each team member is hoping to build or enhance through this project and how this project will help build these skills. 8 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved.
Logic Model Each team should prepare a logic model for their project. Please use The Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide for examples, at the following link: http://www.wkkf.org/ default.aspx?tabid=101&cid=281&catid=281&itemid=2813669&nid=20&languageid=0 Written Progress Report Each team should submit a brief progress report (not to exceed 4 pages) by the stated due date. Electronic submissions should be posted to the ENF community website (http:// my.executivenursefellows.org/ on the Projects tab), and sent to your AL coach and to your team sponsor. Executive Nurse Fellows During the months post-formation of your team at Session 2, your team should work to develop a thorough understanding of the true nature of the problem you are addressing through your leadership project. The action learning model can help you do this before you jump into specific tasks. Using reflection, questioning, listening and dialogue re-examine and refine the problem statement and the specific goals, objectives, and action steps you described in your impact statement (included in the appendix is a list of questions to get you started). This progress report should include: A. Problem statement (possibly revised and refined from the one turned in earlier): A description of your current understanding of the problem and its size and scope, and the main underlying problems or causes that contribute to it that you plan to address in your project. B. If you have revised your understanding of the problem and the underlying problems that you plan to address, please explain why and how. C. Goals, Results Objectives and Action Steps: Refine your goal and objectives, if necessary. List the action steps you plan to implement include an expected completion date with each action (describe short term and long term actions). Provide updates on any actions taken to date. D. Logic Model: Include an updated version of your logic model if necessary. 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved. 9
Final Written Project Report Guidelines Each team is required to submit a final report for their leadership project by Session 5, posted to the ENF community website (http://my.executivenursefellows.org/ on the Projects tab). The report should be written in text form and should be no more than 10 pages. If necessary, supporting materials may be included in an appendix attached to the end of the document. Reports should reflect the complexities of the targeted problem, the level of team commitment to making a difference and the depth of individual and team learning. The final report should include the following sections and information: Project Title Abstract - A brief description of your project problem, setting, methods and results/or progress to date. Introduction / Background - This section should include the final problem statement for your project, a brief description of the context/project setting and the underlying causes of the problem of primary focus. You should also outline the benefits of completing this initiative to the relevant stakeholders. Project Description, Objectives and Methodology - This section should include a brief description of your project including the overall project goal, a list of the project objectives and a description of the intervention strategies and methods. Attach your logic model. Results - This section should include a description of the results of your team s work. If your project has not been completed, use this section to describe your progress on meeting your original goals and objectives. Be specific in describing the results of specific actions you took and any successes or barriers you encountered. Provide examples or true stories that explain your results more fully, and explain why they are important. Conclusion - This section should include your thoughts on how this project benefits and impacts your team, your organization, other organizations, and/or the larger health or health care system. Also describe what other questions or possibilities your project raises and what future actions (either your own or that of other groups) may result from your work on this effort. Leadership Development - (This section, if separated from your paper, should be able to stand alone. It should be an in-depth analysis of each person s personal learning and reflections.) This section should contain a description of the skills you had hoped to build through this project and your assessment of the extent to which you were able to build these skills. Describe situations that occurred which provided you valuable lessons about leadership and what specifically you learned. 10 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved.
Below are some questions to help guide your reflection process: What leadership skills did you/your team exercise and develop in the project? Did you use any specific concepts, skills or tools taught in ENF, and if so, how? What did you and/or your team members learn about yourselves as leader(s)? What lessons did you learn about what good leadership looks like in your context? What difference will these lessons learned about leadership make to how you/your team members plan to lead in the organization and system - in the future? Executive Nurse Fellows 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved. 11
Appendix A: Example questions to ask in team meetings 1. Describe the presenting problem as you/we see it. 2. What are the underlying causes of the problem, and how do they interact to cause the problem? Why does this happen? Why does that happen? And why does that happen? (Keep asking why or how something occurs.) 3. Is the problem a symptom of other problems that your team could address? Consider force field analysis (see http://www.mindtools.com/forcefld.html). Every problem is a result of forces of varying strength, for both good and ill. What broad forces create or increase the problem? (Think about the broad social context of the problem). What broad forces already reduce it? (Could be organizations or other broader forces.) 4. What are two or three potential options for action? 5. Is that really the best way? 6. What will happen if you do that? Is that really what you want? 7. What underlying causes do you want to address in your project? Are you trying to strengthen a positive force, weaken a negative force, or both? 8. Is there danger that you are focusing on a quick fix or a symptom or low hanging fruit, and actually are missing a deeper problem that you could work on? 9. Are you inadvertently missing a better problem or actions that might be more fruitful in the long run, by focusing your energy on X problem or actions? 10. What unintended side effects might come about, through taking these actions? 11. It seems to me that it might be good to think this way (explain; advocate another way of seeing it or action). What do you think? From my experience, this is how I might think about this. how do you respond to that perspective? 12. What barriers might you run into? How will you overcome them? 13. Are there any positive forces/people addressing the problem already, that you can build on or work with? 14. Who else cares, knows about this, and is able to help with this? Should we ask for expert consultation? Should we meet with key stakeholders or key informants in the community or other organizations, to discuss what the problems really are and what might be done? Are there useful reports or literature on the issue? 15. Should you be involving any of these other people who care, know, and can help in a partnership in your solution? Are you working in a silo? Is there any chance that other stakeholders or potential partners will perceive your solution as a threat, and that you should work with them? 12 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved.
16. How effectively did you communicate your vision of the project to the partners (not team members) you are bringing on? What signs or actions from the partners make you aware that they received your vision and agree or disagree? What might you have done to more effectively communicate your vision to the partners? 17. Have you changed your goals, objectives or actions because of partner input? 18. What have you or others tried to do about this in the past and what happened? What makes your actions any different? 19. What have you done so far, and what has happened? What have you learned from what you have done so far? 20. What areas of personal leadership skill are you developing through this project? Can you read or talk with peers to develop skills, along side your project work? Executive Nurse Fellows And before the meeting is over, for each project represented in the group: 21. What questions were most helpful? 22. What ideas were most helpful? 23. What actions do you/we plan to take before the next meeting? 24. How can we make this group more helpful or effective? 2014 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved. 13